Montgomery College recently secured a three-year grant for the NASDAQ OMX Educational Foundation Endowed Scholarship, which the foundation established in 2008 with an initial grant from the exchange group. The scholarship supports students in the Gordon and Marilyn Macklin Business Institute (MBI) honors program. To date, 16 students have benefited from the scholarship.

The grant is the third commitment from the NASDAQ OMX Educational Foundation for the endowed scholarship. All three grants were made in memory of the late Gordon Macklin, the former president of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and founder of the NASDAQ Stock Market. The current NASDAQ OMX Educational Foundation grant also is part of the Gordon and Marilyn Macklin Foundation’s $750,000 challenge grant, which created a dollar-for-dollar matching challenge of up to $750,000 in gifts and pledges to support the MBI program.

“Montgomery College is so thankful for the generosity and partnership with the NASDAQ OMX Educational Foundation,” said Dr. DeRionne Pollard, president of Montgomery College. “Scholarship support ensures that our honors business students will complete their degrees and become our future business and community leaders.”

“We are thrilled to support the education of young business leaders who are top performers in the Macklin Business Institute. These students will follow Gordon Macklin’s footsteps to someday contribute to the growth of our economy and the evolution of our capital markets system,” said Joan Conley, Senior Vice President and Corporate Secretary at The NASDAQ OMX Group. “It is our pleasure to support Montgomery College and their future business leaders to make business curriculum a strategic priority.”

Through Gordon and Marilyn Macklin’s generosity, Montgomery College established the MBI program in 1999. The innovative business program consists of honors coursework, internships, seminars, a student-run business, and community service opportunities. The program offers a one-year option for sophomore students and a two-year option for recent high school graduates. Graduates transfer to some of the country’s top business schools. On January 5, 2011, five recipients of the NASDAQ OMX Educational Foundation Endowed Scholarship visited the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York City’s Times Square, and rang the NASDAQ Closing Bell to launch the partnership.

Montgomery College is a public, open admissions community college with campuses in Germantown, Rockville, and Takoma Park/Silver Spring, plus workforce development/continuing education centers and off-site programs throughout Montgomery County, Md. The College serves nearly 60,000 students a year, through both credit and noncredit programs, in more than 130 areas of study.